The present invention concerns a device for restraining a boot to a ski, generally referred to as a ski binding. More particularly, the invention concerns an improvement to the binding's adjustment means for longitudinal and locking positions, as chosen, on the ski or the like.
Generally, the boot of the skier is held onto the ski in a releasable manner by its front end due to a front binding, commonly referred to as a "toe-piece" binding, and by its back end and particularly its heel due to a back binding, commonly called a "tail" binding. In the event of significant pressure endangering the leg or joints of the skier, the release of the ski boot is done by the front, by the heel of the boot, or by both of them at once. In this manner, the front toe-piece binding includes, for example, a jaw pivoting laterally around a vertical axle, while the tail binding generally includes a jaw pivoting toward the top around a transverse axle, the jaw of the toe-piece binding and that of the tail binding each being prompted by a releasing spring whose compression is adjustable to assure a skier a pressure limit for the release of his ski boot.
The numerous bindings which include means of adjusting the binding's longitudinal position on the ski are well-known. Thus, front toe-piece bindings and back tail bindings which are positionally adjustable on the ski in a way to adapt the distance between the front toe-piece binding and the tail binding to the length of the boot are already known. As a general rule, it is the tail binding which is moved, which includes a sliding body on a runner, immovable in the chosen longitudinal position due to a locking device which includes a lock which is movable between two positions, a locked position and an unlocked position which permits the user to move his binding along the longitudinal axle of the ski in a such a way as to position the binding in a longitudinal position determined by and adapted to the length of the boot.
Such bindings, for example, are described in French patents or patent applications published under the numbers 2,747,626 and 2,614,545.
In the binding of French patent no. 2,747,626, a device is anticipated for adjustment of the binding in longitudinal position, constituted by a lock prompted by a spring whose back part is extended to constitute a prehension part which is manually accessible to the user. This solution, which allows the user to be able to manually carry out the adjustment without the aid of a particular tool does not always result in total satisfaction. In effect, unlocking of the lock can occur accidentally in an untimely manner, for example, by accidentally bumping the prehension part which juts out from the body. Moreover, the extension of the lock is not sufficiently long for the significant pressure which the user must exert, and the user will therefore have a difficult time causing the upthrust of the lock.
In the binding of French patent no. 2,614,545, the user cannot manually act on the lock. One can easily understand the inconvenience of such a device which requires the user to use a specific tool. In the absence of this tool, the user will find that operating the adjustment is impossible.
The present invention therefore seeks to resolve the inconveniences of previous systems in suggesting a binding whose apparatus for adjusting longitudinal position is manually operated without requiring the use of a particular tool, without requiring the user to exert significant pressure, and without any risk of untimely unlocking.